——Great evacuations; as sweating, diarrhœas, diabetes, excessive venery, the fluor albus, an over-discharge of the menstrual flux, giving suck too long, &c.
——The sudden stoppage of customary evacuations; as the bleeding piles, sweating of the feet, bleeding at the nose, the menses, issues, ulcers, or eruptions of any kind.
——Injuries done to the lungs, calculi, &c. I lately saw the symptoms of a phthisis occasioned by a small bone sticking in the bronchæ. It was afterwards vomited along with a considerable quantity of purulent matter, and the patient, by a proper regimen, and the use of the Peruvian bark, recovered.
——Making a sudden transition from a hot to a very cold climate, change of apparel, or whatever greatly lessens the perspiration.
——Frequent and excessive debaucheries. Late watching, and drinking strong liquors, which generally go together, can hardly fail to destroy the lungs. Hence the bon companion generally falls a sacrifice to this disease.
——Infection. Consumptions are likewise caught by sleeping with the diseased; for which reason this should be carefully avoided. It cannot be of great benefit to the sick, and must hurt those in health.
——Occupations in life. Those artificers who sit much, and are constantly leaning forward, or pressing upon the stomach and breast, as cutlers, taylors, shoemakers, seamstresses, &c. often die of consumptions. They likewise prove fatal to singers, and all who have occasion to make frequent and violent exertions of the lungs.
——Cold. More consumptive patients date the beginning of their disorders from wet feet, damp beds, night air, wet clothes, or catching cold after the body had been heated, than from all other causes.
Sharp, saline, and aromatic aliments, which heat and inflame the blood, are likewise frequently the cause of consumptions.
We shall only add, that this disease is often owing to an hereditary taint, or a scrophulous habit; in which case it is generally incurable.